The Violet Hours

Time for DIY Play Money

I saw this adorable fabric play money on Estefi Machado's blog (one of my favorite craft blogs that happens to be in Portugese), and it inspired a search for other clever homemade play money. She used a really cool technique...she coated a piece of cotton in spray mount, let it dry, then ran it through the printer. (At least this is how I understood the google translation.) Being on fabric save them from wrinkles and rips. Here are a few other clever DIY money crafts that caught my eye...

These homemade wooden coins by Lil Blue Boo are super cute: I love that they are in denominations of treats, rather than money amounts.

 

What's better than a kid seeing her own mug in the center of currency? I love the iron-on and stitched details of this homemade play money.

Time for Spring Break Staycation Activities

If you are about to embark upon a week of kids at home (aka wild abandon) for spring break, maybe a few of these 10 ideas from my recent Mom.me story will inspire you! (And while you're there, check out all the great things that Mom.me has to offer!)

Missing the beach in a bad way? Bring it home with this easy homemade recipe of flour and vegetable oil.

 

Too cold for a backyard camp out? Instead, camp in with a homemade tent in the living room!

 

Are Legos getting old? Try building a tower with marshmallows and toothpicks!

 

Download scavenger hunts for the grocery store, the mall, and traffic to keep your kids busy while you run errands!

Check out the rest of the story on mom.me!

Time for Spring Break Staycation Crafts

I just started contributing to a very cool, newish parenting website called Mom.me, where you can explore crafts, behavior advice, recipes...basically everything under the sun that comes along with the parenting gig. They asked me to come up with some fun Spring Break staycation crafts. I tried to make each project something that would be just that: a project; not something that would only take 5 minutes. So here are a handful of the ideas. You can see the whole gallery here at Mom.me.

Snap Happy ABCs sends kids on a scavenger hunt with a camera, looking to find something from every letter of the alphabet to photograph. Upload the photos to picmonkey.com to add text then bind it with zip ties in paper-covered cereal box sides.

Growing up, my sister and I had a self-cleaning Lego mat like this Road Mat. You just push all of the toys into the center, then pull the drawstring and there you go! Clean-up is done-zo! My 2-year old son Oliver cannot believe how lucky he is that this is Mommy's "work".

The play value in this cardboard castle is huge. Let your kids spend the week constructing, and they'll play with it endlessly!

I don't think there's anything more satisfying than putting together a terrarium. Send the kids out in the backyard to gather moss, sticks, and rocks, then arrange them on top of soil in an upcycled plastic snack container (the one I used was from Target's addictive trail mix).

In most homes with young kids, you can find a handful of popsicle sticks. Just add some velcro dots to the ends and watch the kids come up with a gazillion ways to play with them. I call this, Popsicle Stickies. It's good, I know.

Check out the rest of the craft ideas on Mom.me! My second story with them will go live on April 4th; I'll be sure to remind you when it's up. (And follow them on Pinterest...they have good taste, I swear!)

Time for a Super Bowl Party

I got roped into throwing a last minute Super Bowl party, and I'm scrambling a bit for what to make, do, craft, etc. I'm going with the traditional menu of high-caloric, greasy foods that includes wings, Lipton's onion dip, and my husband's Saltine Surprise (basically, it's milk chocolate melted over buttered saltine crackers—he's famous for it). But I refuse to accept a cheesy aesthetic that can be bought at Party City (not that I have anything against the amazing party superstore). So here's my attempt at a tastefully crafted Super Bowl soiree!

I have to cover my table with something, so why not make a little football field? I'll probably go with brown butcher paper, white tape, and white sticker numbers since I have all of those on hand. Photo via Parents.com.

 

Unless you have enough beer koozies for everyone, coasters are a must. I love that I can download these chic, vintage designs from Design*Sponge. Designed by Fawnsberg.

 

And this might be the cutest Super Bowl craft to date. Make your own little "finger" finger puppets in the team colors for the kids. By the talented Kendra Smoot for Holidash.

I will never claim to be a sports fan, but I throw a mean party. Enjoy!

Time for Pretend Play

The one room I wish I had in my Brooklyn apartment is a playroom (I can say this because I already have a craft room). I would love to trick out a space with so much creative play, Oliver and Sommer's brains would hurt from excess imagination. 

Harry is one lucky kid with a mom that would would put this hardware store together for him for Christmas. By Kate's Creative Space, Harry's Hardware Gas & Auto covers all the pieces a hardware store needs. Seriously, just go to her blog to check out the details of this adorable tableau.

The potential with this DIY dollhouse from the Land of Nod blog, Honest to Nod, is huge. I love everything going on here from the colorful clouds, to the train-track walkway, to the bright wallpaper choices. Just darling.

My friend Jocelyn Worrall made this cardboard kitchen for Parents magazine a few years ago, and it's still one of my faves. The oven dials are made from Play-doh lids. Enough said.

These are genius, free printables from Kitschy Digitals that would go perfectly in the cardboard kitchen.

See what I mean? Now I'm really ready for my...I mean their...playroom.

Time to Draw On Your Placemat

If there were a step-by-step guide to teaching patience at the toddler level, I'd buy the DVD, the book, the book-on-tape, and subscribe to the Twitter feed, Facebook updates, and Instagram posts. But, no matter how hard we try, dinners out, and sometimes even dinners in, require a delicate time balance between the pre-food entertaintment, food arrival, waiting for food to cool down, and then the digestion/wait-for-the-check black hole. Potential solution? Placemat entertaintment.

I have this awesome set of paper placemats called Let's Make Some Great Placemat Art. It's imaginiative and open-ended, but still too advanced for my 2.5 year old.



I love this hand-drawn/digital take on placemat messages, but we are still in the letter recognition phase, rather than the letter creation one. Note to self: save for age 5. Or my next dinner party. Via Habitat Kid. 

Alas, sometimes the right solution is the easiest one. Just toss down some brown paper and cups of crayons and let the madness take its course. I'll do anything to avoid the dinnertime Mickey Mouse Clubhouse videos on You Tube. Photo via Country Living.

Time to See the World in Black and White

{Image via Love Your Chaos}

I am no sports fan (shocker, I know), but my husband and I got invited to see the Brooklyn Nets play at the Barclay Center last night and we were curious (plus it was our friend's birthday—yay Alex!). The place is amazing and I love how they really Brookl-afied a sports team...everything was very hip from the music to the mascot to the colors—black and white. As we were leaving, I joked that I'd parlay the experience into blog post with a "how to knit a basketball net", but my brilliant husband suggested that I go with a black and white theme. Brilliant, I tell you.

I am so in love with these plates by Lisa Grue, I don't even know what to do with myself. The black ink on white ceramic or porcelain is one thing, and then there's the addition of the pom pom. Stop it.

 

I swear I've seen every chalkboard paint idea known to man, but I've never seen a chalkboard helmet. Oliver would pee his pants if he could color on his bike/scooter helmet with chalk. By Tom Derracott.

 

How perfect is this minimal snowman craft? Just gorgeous. Via Pinterest. 

 

Mer Mag posts some of the best kids crafts, and this feather headband is no exception.

 

I'm always looking for craft storage solutions, and I love how people apply their craft to everything...even their organization systems. Found via The Daily Telecraft (cute blog name).

 

Ok, these are not DIY, but I love them so much! I found the bunny on Ebay and the dog on Art Fire. $55 each. Sold.

 

Give me some flat, black, oval rocks and I'll make this homemade domino set too. By Repeat Crafter Me (again, another cute name).

Time for Upcycling Piñatas

Ok, it's one thing to make your own piñata, but it's another to pick up the scraps after it's been beaten to a pulp and continue crafting! Not something for the faint of craft. How cute are these piñata scrap bags from Giddy Giddy? And those piñatas? Bestill my beating heart...

 

Time for an Owl Party

Ok, here's the thing about me and owls...I collect them. And I swear, I've been collecting them for years longer than they have been the bird of the moment. Both of my grandmothers collected figurines, jewelry, tape dispensers, belt buckles...all with owls. So when my niece Grey asked if I would help plan an owl party for her 7th birthday, it was a no-brainer.

The party started with a hunt for gold rocks in the front yard, followed by this adorable owl craft. My sister-in-law Dena found a pile of magnolia branches on the side of the road and took them home to slice and seal them with polyurethane.

 

  

 

Here's how to make the owl:

1. We used Mod Podge to cover 3" styrofoam balls with tissue paper. (We saved ourselves the mess and did this step for them.) We put them on skewers so the girls would have something to hold.
2. We cut large feathers out of brown felt; they became the wings and feathers to cover the backs of the birds. They girls glued them on to their styro ball.
3. Dena pre-cut hundreds feathers from felt (yes, she's a little nuts). Starting at the bottom, we glued the feathers in rows to cover the ball. 
4. Once the ball is covered, glue a triangle pointing down in the front to the top of the head.
5. Then, glue two buttons on either side of the triangle.
6. Use hot glue gun to attach to a log or stick. 

Here are some pics of these adorable little girls having the best time!

   

   

Time for a 5-minute Homemade Toy

I've blogged about Made by Joel before...he's one of my absolute faves! Here, he made the simplest toy: he gathered sticks and twigs with his kids and then drilled a few holes in a sanded piece of wood. The kids inserted the twigs in the holes and voila, insta-forest! It doesn't beep, light up, or move. But it does entertain, in the simplest way.